Bookie pays out on Red Rum bet from 1974

While most people might rush down to the bookies with a winning betting slip as fast as they can, one Renfrewshire family has finally cashed in - 43 years after the race.

Back in 1974, Joe Robertson decided to back the previous year's Grand National winner, Red Rum, to win again. He popped down to William Hill and placed a £1 bet at odds of 11/1 - but then forgot all about it.

However, Joe's son-in-law, Bob Holmes, recently came across the unclaimed betting slip in Joe's papers. Intrigued, he got in touch with William Hill to find out whether the slip was genuine, and whether he could still collect the £12.

And the bookie not only confirmed that it was prepared to apy out - it said that it would add in inflation as well. The firm also gave Joe a £130 free bet to place on this year's race - which he plans to place on Definitely Red, in a nod to the earlier winner's name.

Lottery winner finds lost ticket day before it expires

"After 45 years of working for William Hill I am well aware that winning betting slips occasionally are mislaid or forgotten, but we always pay up when a genuine slip comes to light," says media relations director Graham Sharpe.

"The previous record delay was seven years, when we paid a £30 bet to a lady whose husband had died some years before, and she had been unable to bring herself to clear out his things for that long."

The family was, of course, lucky that betting slips don't automatically expire in the way that lottery tickets do. If you fail to claim on a lottery ticket for 180 days from the draw, the money goes to good causes instead.

Couple find winning lottery ticket in bin three days after draw

This has caused a number of close shaves. In 2014, for example, James Wilson discovered an old lottery ticket in a wallet - and found he'd won £52,000. He called Camelot the day before the ticket expired.

Earlier this year, a couple nearly missed out on a big win when they realised they'd thrown a winning ticket in the bin three days earlier. They ransacked the rubbish, found it, and were able to claim £66,000.